Unaware that a microphone was recording him, President Barack Obama asked outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for “space” until after his re-election to negotiate on NATO’s planned missile defense system for Eastern Europe.

Incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin made it a big issue in his re-election campaign.

At the end of a meeting Monday on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit, President Obama was overheard giving Medvedev a very candid political assessment on his ability to deal with missile defense and other issues, in a message to be conveyed to incoming President Putin, reports CBS News chief White House correspondent Bill Plante.

“On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved, but it’s important for him to give me space,” Mr. Obama told Medvedev.